Not So Weak
by I should be writing an essay
Summary: Maggie Olsen has just been made Hufflepuff Quidditch Captain going into her sixth year at Hogwarts, and she is determined to find the best team she can and finally win the Quidditch Cup for her house, something they have lost out on since her first year at Hogwarts. However, will her plan work out when she develops a rivalry with Gryffindor's Quidditch Captain, James Sirius Potter.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

The first time I showed any signs of magic was when I was nine, I was pretending that me and my cat, Baby (named after Baby in Dirty Dancing), were in outer space, and I was able to make her float alongside me. I was fascinated and so happy that my cat could fly, I thought she had done it by herself you see; however, it wasn't until three years later did I find out it wasn't my cat. On the first day of August in 2016, which was Monday 1st, a woman dressed in an extremely weird combination of a long rain coat paired with spotted tights and crocs, knocked on our door and requested to speak to me and my parents. Luckily both my parent were home at the time as my mum was a teacher and had the holidays of and my dad was an architect who worked from home. It was then, over tea, that she informed us that she was an official from the Ministry of Magic, and that I, like she, was a witch. Of course my parents thought she must have been a mental patient at first, who had just happened to wonder onto our doorstep, however once she showed that magic was real (by making the tea we had offered her double in size), did we realise she was telling the truth.

My parents were delighted when they found out, as there was now an explanation behind the weird things that would happen around me for the past few years, as since making my cat fly there had been some weird incidents, such as me randomly appearing on the roof of our house and making a pot a window shatter when in a bad mood. The only thing we didn't understand was how was did I get magical powers, with my parents not having any, to which Ophelia informed me that I was muggle-born, being told that muggle meant non-magical folk, and that sit was a completely normal thing for muggles to sometimes have magical children. After a lengthy talk about the wizarding world and being informed that I would attend Hogwarts, a school for wizards and witches, that September, Ophelia gave me my Hogwarts letter and said she would come back sometime in the week to take my parents and I to wizarding London to purchase everything I needed for school.

Part of me was extremely excited that I got to go to a wizarding boarding school instead of the public school situated in Bromley, where I grew up, but another part of me was dreading it. I had a very close-knit family made up of my parents, Thomas and Dione Olsen, and my older brother by five years, Daniel. My mother was originally from Brittany in France and moved to England to study languages at University of Brighton where she met my dad, who was studying architecture, and have been together ever since. My skill for languages came from my mother, who taught French and German at the school I was supposed to be going to, and my love of 80s movies and music came from my dad, who constantly made my brother and I watch and listen 80s culture since we were little. My brother was also the most caring, protective person I knew, and wanted to study to be a doctor once he left school. The thought of leaving my family who I loved so much behind scared me, but my mum encouraged me that this was an amazing opportunity, and so we went to Diagon Alley with Ophelia that Friday. After buying everything compulsory, the most exciting thing being my wand from Ollivanders, which was a 9-inch willow wand with a dragon heart string centre and surprisingly swishy, my parents decided to buy me an owl, which Ophelia had said was the only way in which we could keep in touch during my time at Hogwarts. We probably spent about half an hour in Eeylops Owl Emporium while I looked at owls, my indecisiveness making it hard to choose which of the beautiful birds to choose, but finally I landed on the friendly tawny owl who was in the window at the front of the store, a male who I named Ferris.

Once everything was bought and I was back home, I had what felt like three of the longest weeks of my life waiting to go to Hogwarts. After being immersed in the wizarding world for just one afternoon, I couldn't wait to learn and use spells at Hogwarts. When September 1st finally arrived, I was filled with both excitement and nervousness. I didn't know anyone at Hogwarts, what if I couldn't make friends, or was an outcast for being a muggle-born? However, once I was on the train, leaving my brother, parents, and Ophelia (who had accompanied us to Platform 9 ¾), and discovered that there was no need to feel nervousness at all. Stumbling into the first compartment I could find with people who looked my age, I met my now best friends, Albus Severus Potter and Dominique Weasley. The pair were cousins and had been best friends growing up, as they were from a big yet very close family, and they were both starting their first year at Hogwarts. On the train, I connected instantly with the two, especially Dom as we both were half French; and it was here that they told me all about the Hogwarts houses, and introduced me to my obsession, Quidditch.

Later that day in the great hall, both Dom and I were sorted into Hufflepuff house, while Al was sorted into Slytherin house, along with our other soon to be best friends; Scorpius Malfoy, Eli Dalton, a pure-blood, and Krista Stevenson, a half-blood. Over the years, our group of six became like a family, we were quite popular and obsessed with Quidditch; I made Hufflepuff's team as keeper in third year, after discovering I had a natural talent when it came to the sport; as did Scorp and Al, who were a chaser and seeker for the Slytherin team. In fifth year, Dom joined me on the Hufflepuff team as a chaser, while Krista did the commentating at school matches, and Eli said he just loved seeing the guys in their Quidditch gear. Since second year, my dream was to play for the Holyhead Harpies, my idol quickly becoming Ginny Weasley, much to Al's dislike.

My first five years at Hogwarts were amazing, I had great friends, a possible future in Quidditch, and had achieved ten OWL's, even though I only just scraped a pass in Potions, but I wasn't going to carry it on anyway, the only real reason I passed was because Al had been my partner for class, potions being his best subject and star pupil to Professor Slughorn. So that brings us up to present day, where I am now spending the last few weeks of Summer vacation at the Dom's house before we head off to Hogwarts for our sixth year.


	2. The Bet

**The Bet**

"Maggie, would you please stop reading that and get ready!"

The frustrated, shouting voice of Dom and the colliding of a hairbrush to my head brought me out of the trance I was in. I was currently lying on Dominique Weasley's bed are reading _The Holyhead Harpies: A History_ probably for the hundredth time. I was staying with Dom for the last few weeks of Summer while my parents were in America visiting my brother, who had moved there to pursue his career as a doctor.

"I seriously regret buying you that book for your birthday now," Dom continued, giving me an angered, yet playful look as she retrieves the hairbrush from next to me on the bed and continues brushing her hair.

"No you don't," I reply, smiling sweetly back at her, "anyway, we have ages till we need to be at the Burrow, doesn't the party start at 3:00?"

"Yes, it starts at 3:00, but we do not have ages. When was the last time you looked at a clock?" she asked back, after this statement thrusting the watch on her wrist in front of my face. It was 2:55.

"Shit. Why didn't you tell me to get ready?" I basically shouted while jumping off the bed, still in my pyjamas and towards my trunk. Rolling her eyes and laughing, Dom informed me that she had been telling me to get ready every 15 minutes since 1:00, but all I did was murmur an 'okay' while continuing to read my book. We were going to the Burrow for the Weasley family reunion, this year which fell on Al's birthday, which is on the 10th August, making him the youngest in our year. Apparently the Weasley/Potter family gets together for a reunion every Summer holiday at the time when everyone is free, which isn't often considering how many of them there are. I had never been to one of these family parties before, but Dom and Al had told me that they tend to go on for a long time and sometimes get a bit out of control.

Rummaging through my trunk I try and find something suitable to wear, and end up throwing on a short, white wrap dress with pink stripes and had to make do with my batted white sneakers, not being able to find the nice sandals that I had packed for this occasion. I quickly let my hair down from its current messy bun, trying to brush out the kinks it had made while simultaneously trying to find my mascara.

"You know you could help instead of just laughing at me," I said in passing to Dom, who was now sitting on her bed and laughing at my frantic movements of trying to get ready in 15 minutes. "Where's my mascara? WHERE is my fucking mascara?" I shout, as I throw basically all the contents out of my trunk, when a second item hits me on the head in the space of 5 minutes. Dom had found my mascara effortlessly and thrown it my way, that girl was amazing at finding things.

"Thanks," I mutter, as I walk to her mirror and apply the mascara, nearly taking my eye out with my panicky gestures, and manage to put on a bit more make up on when Fleur calls up to us. "Dominique, Margaret! It eez time to go to ze Burrow! Come down now!" I loved Dom's mum, but I hated how she insisted on calling me Margaret, my name makes me sound like I'm middle aged. Fleur also loved to be punctual, a thing I was not, which explained why she was anxious to not be there on time.

"Coming!" Dom shouted back, getting up of her bed. She looked amazing, her strawberry blonde hair and striking blue eyes complemented by the light blue jumpsuit she was wearing, paired with white sandals. Dominique was a Weasley through and through, inheriting the ginger hair, pale skin and freckles, however the Veela genes from her mother were also present, making her look immaculate 100% of the time. I used to envy Dom when we first met, her carefree nature and fierce love for her family and friends made her an extremely likeable person, coupled with her looks helped her become popular quickly in Hogwarts. I got over my envy quite quickly though, as I didn't want it to stand in the way of us being friends. Next to her, I currently looked like a mess. I looked in the mirror and sighed 'this'll do' to myself, knowing that I would not be making the best impression to the Weasley's I didn't know yet.

I grabbed my small, brown leather backpack as we left the room, which held my gift to Al (the album Synchronicity by The Police, a band I had introduced to him), my phone (even though I was a witch and should use owl mail, phones were way handier to keep in touch with my parents over Summer), and my new pride and joy, my Hufflepuff quidditch captain badge. The badge had come in the post about a week earlier, along with my book list for sixth year. I had been awaiting its arrival, as Jonathon Jordan, our previous captain, had promised the captaincy to me at the end of fifth year. Jonathon had been a good captain, he was a skilled beater with good plays and was always fair, however when it came to choose a team, he tended to go for people he knew and liked over people who might be better players since he made captain, which was in his fifth year – the only reason I made keeper the first year he was captain was because none of his mates were going up for the position. This meant three consecutive years with no chance of winning the cup, and the two years prior we didn't win either. With the majority of the team leaving at the end of the previous year, the only players left were me, Dom and Nick Chang, who was only going into third year but an extremely gifted seeker. With a clean slate for this year's team, I am determined more than ever to win the quidditch cup this year.

Anyway, enough quidditch rambling and back to the present. Dom and I ran down the stairs and into her living room, where Fleur was standing by herself, looking disapprovingly as we entered. "You girls, why eez it always you too 'o are late?" she questioned us. Before Dom had the time to reply that it wasn't her fault and mine as it always was, I had a habit of leaving things till the last minute, Fleur started talking again. "Your father, Victoire and Louis ave already left, so let's go." And with that she ushered Dom and I into the fireplace, where we would travel to the Burrow via the floo network. I shot Dom a look of apology while stepping in to the fireplace, grabbing a handful of floo powder and shouting, "The Burrow!", before throwing the powder onto the floor and the feeling of travelling through the network took over.

When I arrived in the fire place of the Burrow, I stumbled out ever so elegantly and fall into what seems like a brick wall, and then fall back onto my arse. At least no one was in the living room to see this, which would have been embarrassing. Looking up, I realise that the brick wall is none other than my other best mate, Albus Potter, who apparently just arrived at the Burrow seconds before I did. Looking around to see who had stumbled into him, Al looked down at me and started laughing.

"I should've known it was you, you've never got the hang of using the floo network," he teased as he helps me up, and then pulls me into a hug. "You know, I'll never understand how someone can be so clumsy, yet extremely well balanced when it comes to quidditch," he teases as he releases me.

"Ha-ha, so funny," I reply sarcastically while moving out the way of the fire place, although I'm sure he can see that I did think his joke was funny. I've always been an open book when it comes to showing emotions, same as Dom, unlike the Slytherins who we hang out with. "Anyway, happy birthday!" I add on cheerily, not wanting to stay on the subject of my clumsiness. After I say this, Dom then comes out the fireplace, closely followed by Fleur, both not falling over as I did. Fleur greets Al, kissing him on each cheek and wishing him a happy birthday, before heading outside to the garden where the rest of the Weasley/Potter clan is. Dom then joins me and Al, they hug and catch up quickly, when Al looks at us with dread.

"It's so embarrassing, having this big party on my birthday," Al says to us, looking to the door that leads to the garden. To this, Dom rolls her eyes.

"You know, not everything is about you," she replies sassily, "it's more about seeing the family before we go back to school, it just happens that your birthday is the same day this year."

"I know that, it's just I hate it when they sing happy birthday is all," Albus says back, however a bit more sheepishly, as we walked towards the door leading outside. Al had never been one to enjoy the spotlight, unlike his older brother James. Even though he was popular, mainly due to his parents, he preferred to keep to our small group, whereas James jumped at the idea of popularity, becoming the most known guy in the school along with his best friends, Fred Weasley II and Lysander Scamander.

When we were outside, I was a bit shocked by the amount of people there. I had only expected it to be the Weasley/Potter family, which I already knew was big, but there were also other members from the infamous Dumbledore's Army and their families, including the Longbottom's with their daughter Mia, who was in my dorm at Hogwarts, and the Lovegood's with their twin sons Lorcan and Lysander, who were in Ravenclaw and Gryffindor in the year above. There had to be at least forty people filling the garden, but in the corner furthest away is where Dom, Al and I found the people we were looking for. As the party coincided with Al's birthday, his parents had allowed him to invite along his friends, which meant that Scorp, Krista and Eli were here. As we made our way over to where they were standing, Krista spotted us, squealed and ran over to greet us, before jumping on to Al and screaming happy birthday, causing a few heads to turn in our direction. Though she was a Slytherin, many of us thought that Krista should've been a Gryffindor, being quite loud and reckless the majority of the time, however she is extremely ambitious and dreams to be head of the Department of Sports and Games one day. As she jumped of Al's now flattened body, she blew her fringe out her face and enveloped Dom and I in a bone crushing hug.

"I missed you guys so much!" she squealed, releasing us just when I was about to feint from lack of oxygen. "How come you're so late! I've been stuck talking to Scorp and Eli," she teases as they join our group.

"Why do you even ask that question," Scorp interrupts, looking directly at me with a smirk. "We all know that Maggie wouldn't have gotten ready till the last minute."

"Hey – ", I try to interject, but am swiftly cut off by Eli.

"And how dare you say you were 'stuck' talking to me!" Eli exclaimed flamboyantly, "You know I am the most interesting person here," he states, to which Krista, Dom and I share a look and burst out laughing. I look around at my friends and think of how I am so happy to be back with them again; even though it had only been 2 months since we were last all together it felt longer. We were a bit of a mismatched group of friends, firstly because of the Slytherin and Hufflepuff mix, and secondly from the different personalities. There was me, confident yet clumsy, and always talking about my obsessions of Quidditch and anything 80s themed; Dom, kind and an amazing friend, yet with a fierce personality; Krista with her reckless and jovial spirit; Eli, flamboyant and sarcastic as well as handsome (many girls were upset when he came out as gay in our third year); and then Al and Scorp, who were very similar personality wise, intelligent and reserved around those they don't know well, but still an unlikely friendship because of their dad's rivalry when they were at Hogwarts. While thinking this, the conversation seems to have moved on to what people have done during their Summers, Krista finishing telling us about her holiday in Greece with her family.

"It was amazing, we should take a girls' trip there!" she said, now looking at Dom and I, "there were tons of crazy hot guys." Although she sounded enthusiastic about this, I did notice her eyes flicker to see Al's expression. I've had an inkling that Krista has started to see Al as more than a friend over the past year, although she seems to deny it when I've brought it up. I mentally remember to ask her again soon, as I'm sure they would be a great couple and I love playing match maker, despite only doing it once before when I set Scorp up with Wanda, a girl in my dorm, which ended terribly. Ah well, maybe I can redeem myself with this one.

"So, any news on who's head boy and girl this year?" Scorp asks to the group.

"Well head boy this year is Lorcan Scamander, the Ravenclaw twin, he told me when we were talking earlier," Eli said, "and I think he mentioned that Crystal Everton, you know that pompous know-it-all in Hufflepuff, is head girl." To this news, both Dom and I groan.

"God, I hate her so much, I remember when she was made prefect and got all power-happy being able to control us, and it'll be worse this year," I complain, to which Dom rolls her eyes in agreement.

"Oh, talking about new positions though, anyone get quidditch captain?" Krista asks, mainly to me, Al and Scorp.

"I did!" I exclaimed brightly, proud of my achievement.

"Congrats Mags, however, all of us saw it coming," Eli says, the other nodding in agreement after saying congratulations to me. "What we want to know, is who out of Al and Scorp got it," Eli adds on dramatically and diverting our attention to the two boys. It's Scorp who murmurs, "I got captain," giving a nervous glance to Al, probably worried that he would be angry or jealous that he didn't get it but was relieved to see him smiling back.

"I kinda expected that," Al reveals, "I'm a good chaser but you come up with much better plays, you deserved it mate." To this, Scorp looks much better, and starts smiling happily about his new position.

"So that means we have Scorp and Maggie as Slytherin and Hufflepuff captains, I'm guessing James in captain again for Gryffindor?" Krista asks Al, who nods in confirmation. "And that just leaves the Ravenclaw captain which should still be Alma Reiss. She didn't do very well last year so I don't think you'll have much competition there, but James won the cup for Gryffindor last year, so you'll have some competition there," Krista informs us. When it came to quidditch, though she supported Slytherin, Krista was quite neutral in her commentating and liked to gather as much information as possible about what was happening; to be honest her quidditch commentating was probably the only thing she took seriously at Hogwarts.

"That is true, I am pretty amazing," a new voice said from behind me, I roll my eyes knowing who the voice belongs to, and turn around to see James Potter, wearing his trademark arrogant smirk.

"You know, I think if your head gets any bigger you won't be able to stay up on your broom," I bite back, "and you know you're not gonna carry on your reign with the quidditch cup, Hufflepuff is definitely gonna win this year." To this Scorp gives a small chuckle, obviously believing his team will win; while James bursts out laughing.

"Hufflepuff? Win the cup? That's a great joke, Olsen," James manages to get through his laughter, not noticing that no one else is joining in.

"It's not a joke!" I retort frustratingly, but then a plan develops in my head. "Well, if you don't think I can lead my team to victory, why don't we bet on it?" To this James stops laughing, and the others look at me as if I've gone mental, probably because betting is yet another thing I am not very good at.

"This sounds like something I could win, do go on," James replies, obviously interested.

"Ok, Potter, 50 galleons says Hufflepuff win quidditch cup this year," I announce confidently.

"Shit Maggie, what the hell do you think you're doing – ", Dom starts, however is interrupted by James.

"Deal!" he exclaims, just as confidently as me, and shake hands in agreement. With that James turns and leaves in the direction of Fred II and Lysander, most likely to tell them of our bet. It is now that I look back to my friends and see their looks of disbelief to what I have done.

"Well, we really have to win the cup now, huh," Dom states, and starts laughing. I think to myself of how this could go downhill, as the majority of all my plans do, but quidditch is where I am most confident, and I am sure I'm going to beat all the other teams, and most importantly crush James Potter.


End file.
